Love's Crash Course
by MegaTJ
Summary: Gale and Gust of Canyon Run have always had each other in the hardest of times. However, one day in Ponyville brings a change in their lives. Will the twins turn their back on each other for a couple of fillies, or worse, will their attitudes lead them to a shattering heartbreak?
1. Sugary Sweet Winds

Sugary Sweet Winds

The wind currents blowing between the two towns of Canyon Run and Ponyville cooled the air of the warm morning, providing two Pegasi with a comforting flight path to the latter town. Both late-risers drifted drowsily on the winds of the early morning, yawning along the way. Neither had anything to say to the other, for they were caught up in their own thoughts. The older Pegasus thought over what tricks he would show off to the ponies of Ponyville. His brother simply ran over calculations for new ways to break vortex barriers by using applied physics. It was only their second trip to the rural town, and they would have gotten lost if not for the simple directions of flying east to get there.

"Man, why do we have to go get Sprinkle from her slumber party?" whined Gale over the wind.

"Because, my brother, Cloud has moved out of Canyon Run and since Sprinkle still lives within Canyon Run, we must be responsible siblings and return her home while mother works", Gust explained haughtily.

"I know that, know it all! But why so early!?"

"_You_ were the one who wanted to arrive early so we could demonstrate to Ponyville's Pegasi and I quote 'our awesome moves and stuff'."

Gale clammed up. Arguing with Gust was sort of like what his brother always said about the laws of motion: for every complaint, there was an equal and opposite retort. Succumbing to Gust's superior debating skills, no matter how many times, never once taught Gale a lesson. In a few hours there would be another opportunity to learn one. They continued east until mountains grew out of the ground, shrinking the perspective of the two colts down to miniscule sizes. It wasn't much longer before the snowcapped summits gave way to a large sheltering Ponyville from the outside plains.

The flight path the twins took arched downwards to the center. Upon breaking the tropopause, they spiraled around the other, creating a cone shaped vortex that propelled them into near transonic speeds. Gale pulled forward inverted then let his momentum fall into free spinning backflips. Gust shot forward, put himself in Gale's trajectory, and, when his brother was in range, grabbed the lighter blue pony. Together they spun down to the ground, stopped just before face planting, and shot back up with an explosive tailwind that kicked dust up higher than the rooftops.

Gale looked around. "Where's our cheers?"

"Probably still asleep in their homes." Gust rolled his eyes. "As I had told you they would be."

"Ugh, whatever", he snapped. "Let's just get to Cloud's. He'll tell us where Sprinkle is."

"A detail told to us by our mother." Gust started in the opposite direction. "She is, if I remember correctly, sleeping in the barn of Sweet Apple Acres with her friends."

"Then let's get going!" Gale rushed to take the lead. "Where is it?"

"East from here. I'm sure a large orchard of apple trees will indicate whether or not we've gone far enough."

The darker pony rolled his eyes. Here he was yet again in his brother's shadow. If he loved the attention as much as his twin, Gust might have had a problem being in the dark. It was a good thing—probably for everypony—that he preferred the atmosphere of a quiet laboratory than the earsplitting screams of fillies shouting his name. The only time he ever enjoyed an audience was when he ever got to show off his knowledge of applied physics. He smiled in remembrance of the first time he ever introduced no-fuse fireworks. That was a time he would never forget accidentally setting his tail on fire. The memories lead him back to some of his recent and current projects. To allow his mind to focus less on flying and more on his formulas, he slowly drifted to the ground. Gust's senses hollowed to the point of blocking out reality altogether. As a result, Gale and his simple mind didn't notice leaving him behind.

Gust's body moved on its own while he made himself comfortable in the confines of his head. With each step farther into the streets of Ponyville, his attention dulled even more. He soon wandered into the town's sweets district. Passing the area's trademark, Sugarcube Corner, he kept trotting along. The smaller establishments of candies and ice creams had no more effect on him than the first. That was the case, until he discovered that one of the shops was installing an extension, right in his walking path.

_CRASH!_

Gust tripped head first over a sack of sugar. He kept going until the physics he held so dear made absolutely sure that he effectively destroyed a wooden bucket, sent countless ingredients into the air, and landed square on the pony setting it all up. Shock kept him from fully bringing himself out of his mental science land, so the squirming pony under his back didn't actually get through until he completely processed what had happened. The second everything set in, he rolled over onto his hooves as fast as he could and helped the pony up.

"My apologies", he grunted, lifting more than half of his share of her weight, "I was very absorbed in my thoughts to notice you."

"It'th okay", replied Peppermint Twist, "Nopony got hurt."

The Pegasus looked curiously at the pony he had just accidentally assaulted. She was a young Earth Pony, no older than himself, though maybe a few hairs shorter. Her soft mint coat vibrantly accented her curly scarlet mane and tail while her pink eyes shone deeply behind her violet glasses. Her smile showed signs of healthy dental habits. He felt the muscle in his chest tighten at the sight of her. Only in his physics magazines and news articles did he ever see a girl so intelligent-looking. He extended his hoof out once more, this time in greeting.

"I'm Continental Gust."

Twist happily completed the gesture. "Peppermint Twitht. Are you new in Ponyville?"

He nodded. "Yes, but I haven't moved in. I live in Canyon Run. I'm only here to make sure my sister makes it back home safe with my brother, wherever he might have flown…" One glace around the surrounding destruction forced him to continue. "Would you like help cleaning? It was my fault there is even a mess to clean anyway."

"Sure. I wath only getting ready for today anyway." She stooped to scoop up the candies that had somehow scattered out into a sugary minefield over the street.

Seeing how many there were to pick up, Gust also saw his chance to show off a little. He shot into the air and circled the airspace above the block. Without Gale to assist him, the colt could only manage a very thin tornado. It was a good thing what he had to gather in his funnel cloud were light candies and nothing more. His speed combined with his varying diameters created a vortex just powerful enough to pull all of the round sweets into a single pile in front of the stand he thankfully didn't turn to a pile of splintered wood. When he finished he landed just in time to hear the last of his applause. Twist spun around and looed in his vision as the dizziness reigned in his head. Motion sickness wasn't much of a factor for he was much too excited to pay any mind to anything that wasn't the grateful filly.

"That wath imprethive!"

Gust swept the few candies that escaped the pile back onto their mountainous prison with a few swipes of his tail. "Thank you. I usually cannot produce such a twister without the help of my brother."

Twist hadn't yet returned to collecting the candy. What he did was one of the coolest, and nicest, things she had ever seen. Gust didn't seem to mind cleaning up his mess by himself, and she had the feeling that he may not have let her lend a hoof anyway. The candy was back in its un-shattered jar a few moments later, leaving the two with a silence to share. Twist thought over ways to thank this new Pegasus, and found one when her wandering eyes avoided his face and stopped on a bowl of sample sweets.

Ignoring her sign that asked ponies to take only one, she picked out one each of the multicolored candies and held them out for him. "Thethe are for you! Welcome to Ponyville, Gutht!"

He gladly accepted the candy. The way her lisp punctuated his name rang adorably in his ears a bit. He stored most of the round confectionaries under his left wing, as he wasn't about to leave anytime soon. The one that he left out sported a white stripe running through its translucent sides. He ripped the wrapper from it and placed it on his tongue like he did to savor all new tastes. An electrifying sensation washed over his mouth. He widened his eyes in surprise.

Twist leaned forward. "Do you like it?"

"I've never before tasted a candy so perfect!" He closed his eyes and rose into the air on his hind legs. He got back down and smiled wider than he had ever smiled for anypony. "Did you make them yourself?"

She nodded. "Those are my newest recipe for basic fruit candies."

"Amazing. I suppose that was orange I just tasted? I also noticed hints of cream."

A second nod. "That's right! Usually ponies can't taste everything in my candy."

"You've certainly done your best to create a new taste using the given elements. When I stop giving it my full attention I find that the blend of ingredients are spectacular."

Twist blushed bashfully. "Oh, it can't be that good."

"Modesty shouldn't be a factor here; you deserve every molecule of pride that I know you feel." Gust felt strange for giving away so many compliments, whether he meant them or not. He usually never even noticed other ponies let alone found anything about them to praise. This particular pony was a very rare exception. She appealed to his chemist side like no other pony before her. He was just about to go on when somepony interrupted.

"There you are!" yelled Gale from the sky above. "Why did you bail on me like that!?"

"I—"

"Never mind! I found Sweet Apple Acres, let's get going! Sprinkle's waiting!" Gale didn't let his brother even have a moment to say goodbye to his new friend before dragging him by the tail into the air.

"I'll see you later, Twist!" He managed before losing sight of her. He thought he saw her wave just before clearing the corner of a building, but was more worried about losing the candies she gave him to think too much about it. He gathered them all from under his wing, broke free from his twin, and followed the showoff carefully so as not to drop them. That's when he noticed his brother was shouting at him.

"Hello! Equestria to Gust! Anypony in that big head?!"

"Did you want something?" he snapped.

"I asked who that pony was like a hundred times!"

"A new friend." Gust kept his hooves low to keep the candy from the eyes of Gale.

"Friend? Since when do you care about friends? You don't even hang out with the eggheads at that physics place!"

"None of them are as interesting as Twist." He smiled to himself and added under his breath, "Or as pretty."

**Ooh, it looks like the first chapter brings the first crush. I wonder what will happen in the second chapter, or even the third!**

**Sorry for the delay. It took me forever to get the cover for this story done.**

**Trivia:**

**Gale and Gust are two of my longest developed characters appearance-wise. It took me forever to figure out what I wanted them to look like.**

**I typed almost this whole chapter at my new college between classes. An efficient way to manage time, yes?**


	2. Sensational Singing Splendor

Sensational Singing Splendor

Sometime after Gust's introduction to Peppermint Twist, he found himself flying somewhat behind his brother, who was spouting endless boasts of his flying talents. He sighed, having finally realized exactly what a bore it was to be at the epicenter of such nonsense. The only thing he wished was to go back to the ground where that pretty filly was undoubtedly pleasing ponies with pieces of pleasant pleasures also known as candy to those who aren't so partial to alliteration. It wasn't long before his longing and thoughtful expression was noticed by somepony else.

Gale stopped abruptly to grab his brother's face. "Okay, dude, seriously. Why are you acting all kinds of out there?"

Annoyed at his sibling's face-grabbing hooves and even more so at his prying, Gust sighed, "I'm reflecting on the short-lived moments I had spent with my new friend before being oh so-rudely pried away from her, if you must know." The only thing he received as a reply was a nearly terror-stricken stare. He pulled his face from his twin's grip. "What?"

"Dude! Don't tell me ya gotta crush on that filly! Ugh! I shoulda known when I saw the goo-goo eyes and mushy looks! That's it! We're ruined!"

"Settle down, Drama Queen. My affections are still my own. I don't believe a few seconds alone with an interesting filly are hardly enough time to develop feelings toward her", Gust lied through every one of his teeth. Deep down he knew that Gale was right, but couldn't kill his own flesh and blood with the news that his heart may now be somewhere else than helping said flesh and blood showoff to the many ponies of Equestria.

"You can't lie to me, Bro", Gale retorted, "Your ear twitches when you lie, remember?"

"Horsefeathers…fine. So what? Yes, I may find a filly's presence warm and pleasing, so why does that call for your outbursts?"

"Because now you're gonna spend all your time with her and who's gonna be my wingman? Huh? Sprinkle can barely fly and now that Cloud's moved out to the sticks, there's nopony else at home but Mom!"

"Don't worry, my ill-tempered brother, I still intend to fly with you. To the ends of the winds. Just like before."

Gale didn't look even a smidgen more convinced. If anything his frown sunk even deeper into his features. For several tense, hoof-crossed seconds, the twins looked into their near-reflections. Instead of exploding with another exclamation, the older twin merely sighed heavily. He turned around and continued to the apple tree-covered hills of their destination. It was hurtful for Gust to see the darker blue Pegasus in such a sour mood. Especially so since the angry pony was his closest and, up until only a few minutes ago, only friend. To take his mind off of his brother's mood, Gust unwrapped another of Twist's samples. This one was dark green with a white stripe similar to the previous one.

While he enjoyed his apple cream candy, Gale found more and more reasons to be angry with the pony behind him. In his irrational mind, the hotheaded Pegasus felt his brother should only spend time with him and, on the rare occasion, the rest of their family. Gale was more than half the reason ponies even knew Gust's name. By showing off in a pair, the two grew popular among the fliers of Canyon Run. Now that Twist had taken his other half away, Gale would have to come up with his own stunts and lose the addition of the special effects that Gust concocted using his vast knowledge of physics and chemistry. Such a loss would impact his crowd-drawing abilities pretty hard and result in a drop in the numbers of ponies who watch him. That was not something that sat comfortably with the colt's need for attention.

They kept flying through the orchard in silence, much to Gust's dismay. Every second Gale was seething was a new rung lower on the torture ladder. He had twenty trees ago run out of candy and was now reduced to stress-eating the apples they passed over. Unknown to him, Gale's short attention span had brought his mind to other places and was no longer upset with him. Soon after he had eaten well over six apples, they came upon the Cutie Mark Crusader's clubhouse. It didn't seem as if anypony was yet awake; the sun was still only barely above the horizon after all. Nevertheless, that didn't deter the brothers one bit.

The two landed near the tree line to rest their overworked wings. Feeling the soft grass under his hooves, Gust knew it was time to confront and apologize to Gale. He just couldn't take the pressure anymore. "Gale", he said as calmly as a shaken pony could.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorr—"

"Don't worry about it, man. You just better keep flyin' with me."

"I told you I would."

"Good, then we don't have a problem." Gale started for the clubhouse's stairs. "Especially since I would never, ever, EVER get a crush on a filly. I mean—"

His voice derailed so suddenly Gust thought he went deaf. A few seconds later he realized that his sense of hearing was perfectly fine upon hearing the soft melody of a singing pony. He traced the sound waves through the air and found them coming from a white unicorn emerging from the clubhouse's front door. Her tune soothed the ears of both of the boys, but it completely captivated Gale. She hadn't seen either of them, mainly because she sang to the morning with closed eyes.

Gust looked back and forth from the filly to his dumbstruck sibling. He saw nothing about the way her curly pink and white mane fell ever-so-slightly over her face or the way her color-blank fur shone in the sunlight that was remotely enchanting. However, Gale was so entranced he was nearly swaying on the tips of his hooves. The filly opened her eyes with intentions to look at the sky. Upon seeing she was now also to see them, Gale grabbed Gust by the shoulders and dragged him into a nearby bush.

"Gale, what has—?"

"Shh! Quiet you idiot!" hissed the older twin. "Do you want her to hear us?"

Gust knew instantly from his brother's flushed face what had gotten into him. He smiled cheekily. "'Never ever ever' was it?"

Gale's eyes flared in anger. "Shut it!"

"Temper, temper", tsked Gust, "At least have the pride to say it." He watched as the pony across the bush clench his teeth. It was so amusing to watch Gale admit hypocrisy, though he should've been used to it after seeing the act repeated several times a week.

"I like the way she looks", he seethed, "And I think her singing is kinda cool…"

Gust snickered. "I suppose that will do."

"Dude…could ya introduce me?"

"Come again?"

"Please, I don't wanna look like an idiot."

Gust now officially loved his position right now. Gale had left himself wide open and didn't even realize it. He figured now was as best a time as any to get a little payback for years of teasing. "Then you should not have gotten out of bed this morning."

"Seriously!" pleaded the now entreating Pegasus. "I've never talked to a girl like that before!"

"Because they all run away, of course", said Gust devilishly. Revenge was definitely sweet.

Though he had just been smacked with another, this time more relevant, insult Gale kept the begging up like a tidal wave building height. "Come on…I'll owe ya one! A big one! Anything!"

Gust couldn't believe his luck. First he gets every opportunity to torture his twin, and now that same twin was practically ready to sell him his soul just for a simple favor. If he were anymore evil, Gust would have refused Gale's request, or perhaps really have asked for his brother's soul, but instead became fond of having something over the hothead for once.

"I do hope you realize what an imposition this is for me."

"Whatever, just do it!"

Gust climbed out of the bush while going over the possibilities of what he could call in for his favor. Most of them were for revenge, but he did have one or two actual things he could use Gale to do for him. He stopped thinking about them; he had broken the five foot radius most ponies got within to meet and greet others.

"Good morning", he said politely.

"Good morning", she replied skeptically, having seen his appearance from the vegetation, "Uh…what were you doing in that bush?"

"Having a discussion with a family member."

Just to check, Sweetie looked past him to find that there was no pony else to be found. "…I hope it wasn't the bush?"

"Sorry?" He followed her gaze to the area around them and saw that Gale didn't follow. He sighed in irritation. "Gale, I do believe I require your presence to introduce you!"

Sweetie slowly backed away from this crazed stranger. Talk was going around about weirder-than-Ponyville-weird ponies in Ponyville and wanted nothing to do with them. Only when she saw a blur streak out from the bush did she stop. Her eyes watched it fly across the sky, complete several loop-de-loops and corkscrews, and finally slide to a halt just behind Gust. With his proudest pose and his shyest smile, this new colt nudged the first to go on.

"I am Continental Gust, Sprinkle's brother from Canyon Run. And this is my twin brother, Lightning Gale." He presented the colt to her, allowing him to take a hesitant step forward.

"Uh…hey, there", Gale squeaked, "I…liked your song."

"Thanks", replied the unicorn with uncertainty. "I didn't know anypony was listening."

"My brother rarely compliments anypony", Gust explained, "So you'll have to excuse his hesitance to do so. Considering he actually—"

"I…liked your song", repeated the nervous Pegasus. "Do you sing a lot?"

It was hard to turn down the compliments, even if she was somewhat embarrassed to have somepony she didn't know like them. Since ponies other than her friends rarely ever heard her singing voice, let alone a colt near her age, praises were hard to come by. The ones that she received from this new Pegasus struck the heart strings in her chest so delicately she nearly lost blood flow from the skipped beats. "Not in front of other ponies…"

Gust backed away to let the two have their conversation. To him it seemed as if the filly was only talking to his brother out of pity; the way Gale stuttered left and right didn't exactly make him seem charismatic or even remotely interesting, but for some reason, she still replied to him. He decided to use that as his cue to take his leave. Somewhere back in Ponyville there was another filly he wanted badly to get back to.

As he flew away, the remaining Pegasus finally discovered that he didn't have to be constantly nervous to speak to Sweetie Belle. "Yeah, I usually just sing in the shower", he chuckled, "So…you gotta name right?"

"Sweetie Belle", she answered.

"Nice…" That's where the colt stopped. He had absolutely nothing to talk about. He turned for some kind of help from Gust and was dismayed greatly to see his partner disappeared on him. Scratching the back of his head uneasily, returned his gaze back to the filly. Instant relief helped melt the block of chilling anxiety when he noticed a smile had grown under her nose.

It was a good thing for him that she happened to be the sister of one of Ponyville's biggest romantics because she could see instantly that he had taken a liking to her. Even better for him was the fact that Sweetie Belle liked having somepony taking a liking to her. If she knew what she thought she knew, then there was surely going to be more compliments for her in the future should she allow him to hang out with her. "Have you ever been to Sugarcube Corner?"

He shook his head. "No. Never even been to Ponyville before."

She smiled. "Then let me show you around."

**That's right! Two crushes for the price of one story!**

**In other news, I just got my first art commission! It's a small project for a wedding, but I'm still so excited!**

**Trivia:**

**As you'll find later on in the updates, all of Cloud's family have more than one name. What the others are I won't spoil right now.**


End file.
